Tokimeki Memorial:  Dream Dancing
by DocMui
Summary: Mio Kisaragi has always lived with her delicate nature.  In dreams, however, one can find what might be.


Tokimeki Memorial: Dream Dancing

Mio Kisaragi closed the book she was reading and held it close to her.

She smiled and sighed contentedly. She so loved classical romance books, which  
emphasized courtship and subtlety rather than some of the more crass modern books.  
It was much more satisfying for her to know that the heroine was with her hero in the end.

She could never stay up terribly late. Her frail constitution was such that it rebelled  
at any undue stress, causing her to faint. Even with plenty of rest, however,  
she found it difficult sometimes to make her way through the school day without  
at least one fainting spell.

Thankfully, she had friends who understood her delicate nature. Saki Nijino, her best friend,  
could always be counted on for a word of encouragement. Her fellow members of the Drama Club  
were always supportive. Then, there was that young man whom she'd seen quite often. He never  
seemed to pay excessive attention to her infirmity, accepting it as a part of who she was.

Still, not a day passed that she didn't wish to be physically stronger.

A day without a fainting spell was an achievement in itself. She'd had good days and bad,  
and they were beginning to even out.

She'd often wished to be able to dance. There were few things epitomizing romance  
than the heroine and her hero dancing. With her anemia, however, she would most likely  
have just fainted in the middle of a step. For her, dancing was something best left to dreams.

Yawning, she double-checked her alarm clock and reverently put her book on her nightstand.  
Taking off her glasses, she turned off the light and settled into bed. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.

It seemed like only moments later when she opened her eyes. She found herself in a large ballroom.  
The place seemed to be decorated for some formal occasion. Puzzled and intrigued, she slowly took stock  
of her surroundings. She almost walked past a mirror, then stopped.

She gaped at her reflection. She was perhaps three or four years older, and time had been especially kind to her.  
She no longer had glasses, and her long hair was done up in a long braid, ending in a girlish bowtie.  
Her features had matured from pretty to elegant. Alabaster skin, not the anemic shade she was so used to,  
showed through the modest dress, which had its fair share of ruffles. She was beautiful, just like  
all the princesses and heroines in her books.

"Are you all right, Mio-chan?"

She turned around and blinked at the person she saw. The young man before her was familiar, yet not quite.  
She almost couldn't believe who stood before her.

He was a bit older, perhaps as old as she appeared to be. His dark tuxedo complemented her gown perfectly,  
as if they were a matched set. His somewhat messy hair had been tamed, with only a few bangs hanging over  
his eyebrows. He still retained his boyish charm, but somehow tinged with maturity. His eyes were older and wiser,  
and filled with gentleness.

No, not mere gentleness. Concern wasn't the only thing in his eyes.

There was caring and strength, and...something else.

"Un." She nodded uncertainly. "I was just...a little distracted, I guess."

"That's understandable," he said with a shrug. "After all, you've come a long way since high school."

"Really?"

"Really," he confirmed. "Come on, we'd better say `hi' to the bride and groom." He gestured to a nearby crowd,  
one that hadn't been there before. In the middle of that crowd were two oddly familiar, yet different faces.

Mio blinked, a bit confused. "Who...?"

He furrowed an eyebrow in concern. "Yoshio and Yuko, remember? They got engaged a couple of weeks after we did."

She blinked. "En..engaged?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? It's not

your anemia, is it?"

She sat down at a nearby table. "I'm fine. I just...I just never thought of Yoshio as, well..."

"Responsible? Romantic?" he suggested, then smiled as she nodded.

"Times change, Mio-chan, and so do people. I remind myself of that every time

I look at you."

She blinked. "How so?"

"When we first met, I thought you were like a delicate flower, too delicate for anything but to be admired.  
Back then, I didn't realize how strong you really were. You could've just given up on acting and become totally  
withdrawn into books, but it never happened. You could've just accepted your anemia, but you didn't.  
You wanted to improve yourself."

Mio blinked in surprise. "I never knew..."

"It didn't happen overnight," he told her, clasping her hand. "At times, I was so worried..."

"I don't mean to be a bother."

"You never *were* a bother, Mio-chan, not to me." He shrugged, as if unaware of the warmth spreading across her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Would you care to dance, Mio-chan?" he asked, offering his hand.

She smiled as she took it. "I'd love to." She replied quietly.

It was a slow dance, but it was more than she dared hope for when she was in high school. As she and her partner  
wove their way around the dance floor, she felt no dizziness, nor shortness of breath, or any sign of fainting.  
The music wasn't important. Her world was just the dance floor...and the gentle warmth of her partner.  
When the pace slowed down, she found herself leaning against his chest.

"Mio-" he began, but was rudely interrupted by the shriek of her alarm. The dance floor faded away  
as she opened her eyes. She fumbled around and tapped the snooze button.

Propping herself up, she regarded her somewhat blurry surroundings.

Sighing wistfully, she put on her glasses and went through her morning routine. Everything seemed the same,  
yet somehow different. She found herself humming as she dressed, much to the delight of her mother.

"You must have had a good night's sleep," she commented.

"Un," she nodded, finishing off her breakfast.

"Anything interesting?"

"Oh, well...you know how dreams are..." Mio faltered.

"I do, indeed," her mother replied, then peered out the window. "Saki's here. Do your best, dear."

"I will, Mom. I'm off!"

It didn't take long for Saki to pick up on Mio's good mood. She wasn't arguing, but she was certainly curious.

"I had the most wonderful dream last night," Mio explained as they walked to school.

"What was it about?" her best friend asked.

Mio sighed dreamily as she finished her tale. Saki smiled at her friend's good mood.

"I just...never thought of him that way, until now," she admitted. "Do you think it's silly to hope for something  
you saw in a dream?"

"I don't think so," Saki said, shaking her head. "I mean, people do

make their dreams come true, hm?"

"Like the tree," Mio suggested.

"Like that." Saki agreed.

They walked together in silence, each caught up in their own thoughts of what that day might bring.

THE END


End file.
